Air France launches Joon, targets millennial travellers

Air France said Joon would start off by flying to six destinations. Starting from December 1, Joon will fly to four cities in Europe - Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon and Porto. It will then fly to Fortaleza in Brazil and the Seychelles from the end of March 2018. Single fares to the European cities will start from 39 Euros, while fares to Brazil and the Seychelles will range from 249299 Euros respectively.

Joon’s CEO Jean-Michel Mathieu (C) poses with models presenting Joon’s uniforms during the launching of Joon, the new lower-cost airline subsidiary of Air France in Paris, France, September 25, 2017. 

Joon will be hiring 1,000 cabin crew staff between now and 2020, Air France chief executive Franck Terner told reporters. The airline will initially use A340 aircraft on long-haul routes and switch to more modern A350 planes from 2019. Joon, which is targeting the ‘Millennials’ generation, will be run by Jean-Michel Mathieu, who has been involved with the project since the start and has held various positions in sales, digital and revenue management within the Air France-KLM group. 

Air France wants to bring down costs to compete better against Gulf carriers on longhaul routes, and against budget carriers on short-haul routes. Other airlines stepping up their low-cost offerings include British Airways’ owner IAG, Lufthansa’s Eurowings and Canada’s WestJet, while problems at Ryanair have also highlighted the fight for passengers in the sector. 

In July, Air France-KLM offered optimism on pricing for the rest of the year, after good travel demand resulted in better than expected second-quarter profit.